DC Magnetron Sputtering is a thin film deposition technique. For example, sputtering can occur in an environment containing Argon gas (Ar). A negative DC potential is applied to a conductive metal “target.” A plasma discharge is established to ionize the gas thereby creating Ar+ ions. The positively charged Ar+ ions accelerate towards the negatively charged target and causes ejection of the target through sputtering, which in turn creates a metal film on an opposing placed substrate.
Introduction of reactive gases such as O2 or N2 can cause the film to take on properties of the compounds created by the reaction of these gases with the deposited metal film. Further ionization and acceleration of these reactive gases can enhance the reactivity between the gas and the film in addition to improving the density of the film as well as influence other film properties such the film stress, hardness, index and absorption. Conventional deposition systems are complex and suffer from issues including reduced wafer throughput and material contamination issues, which limits film quality and requires extended preventative maintenance cleaning of the deposition equipment. This effects over all cost of ownership